everything was possible in such a nature; and
anxious to enter upon the struggle both for my own sake and that of the
child of whose condition under that terrible eye I scarcely dared to
think, I left Homewood in haste and took the first train for Yonkers.
Though the distance was not great, I had fully arranged my plans before
entering the town where so many of my boyish years had been spent. I
knew the old fox well enough, or thought I did, to be certain that I
should have anything but an easy entrance into his house, in case it
still harbored the child whom my partner had seen carried in there. I
anticipated difficulties, but was concerned about none but the
possibility of not being able to bring myself face to face with him.
Once in his presence, the knowledge which I secretly possessed of an old
but doubtful transaction of his, would serve to make him mine even to
the point of yielding up the child he had forcibly abducted. But would
he accord me an interview? Could I, without appeal to the police--and
you can readily believe I was not anxious to allow them to put their
fingers in my pie--force him to open his door and let me into his house,
which, as I well recalled, he locked up at nine--after which he would
receive no one, not even a patient?

It was not nine yet, but it was very near that hour. I had but twenty
minutes in which to mount the hill to the old house marked by the
doctor's sign and by another peculiarity of so distinct a nature that it
would serve to characterize a dwelling in a city as large as New
York--though I doubt if New York can show its like from the Battery to
the Bronx. The particulars of this I will mention later. I have first to
relate the relief I felt when, on entering the old neighborhood, I heard
in response to a few notes of a certain popular melody which I had
allowed to leave my lips, an added note or two which warned me that my
partner was somewhere hidden among the alleys of this very
unaristocratic quarter. Indeed, from the sound, I judged him to be in
the rear of the doctor's house and, being anxious to hear what he had to
say before advancing upon the door which might open my way to easy
fortune or complete defeat, I paused a few steps off and waited for his
appearance.

He was at my elbow before I had either seen or heard him. He was always
light of foot, but this time he seemed to have no tread at all.

"Still here," was his comforting assurance.

"Both?" I whispered bac